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Health Coalition Releases Indictment of Government Cover-Up & Recommends Full Investigation
Toronto/Brampton (January 7, 2008) In a detailed report, using internal government and hospital documents and public announcements, the Ontario Health Coalition revealed a litany of broken promises, cost overruns, capacity cuts, delays and secrecy in Ontario’s first privatized P3 hospital.
The new Brampton Civic Hospital was supposed to be the flagship of a new privatized hospital development program. Termed P3 or “Public Private Partnership”, a multinational consortium of for-profit companies built the hospital and will run the building and 50% of its patient support services in a 25-year lease-to-own arrangement. The total deal will cost more than $3 billion.
The hospital has been in the centre of a swirl of controversy since it opened in late October. Protests have been growing since community fundraising targets have more than doubled, plans for the redevelopment of the old hospital site have been cut, and two patients have died amid claims by family and friends of extraordinary waits for care.
Despite repeated promises of transparency and public accountability, the details of the P3 deal were kept secret until a court order last spring. Using new documents and a detailed review of the history of government claims and promises, the coalition has traced the evolution of Brampton hospital bed planning and the costs of the P3 project.
The report shows, irrefutably, that as the costs increased from $350 million to $650 million (capital costs alone), one of the three clinical care buildings was cut, the number of ORs was cut, and the total number of beds planned for the community was reduced from 720 to 479 (with a new promise to open 608 beds by 2012). The bed total is now only half of the projected need for 930 beds in Brampton by 2008, according to the latest hospital infrastructure planning review done by the Halton-Peel District Health Council in 2003. {more}
Related Files
- Private financing, public questions, The Toronto Star – Tue 08 Jan 2008 (12.6 Kb)
- Cost Overruns, Service Cuts and Cover-up in the Brampton P3 Hospital- Summary (64.3 Kb)
- Cost Overruns, Service Cuts and Cover-up in the Brampton P3 Hospital- Full Report (780.8 Kb)
- Listen to CUPE President – Sid Ryan’s Radio Interview re. P3’s and Local 1115 (3.4 Mb)
- Listen to CUPE Ontario and Local 1115 Welland City Workers – Anti P3 Radio ad. (1.1 Mb)
